Minnetonka School District has embraced a pervasive culture of innovation throughout their district for a number of years. One hallmark of this culture is the Big Idea Hunt– a forum where ideas are crowdsourced amongst the entire staff, discussed and reformulated with peers, and ultimately realize implementation each year.

A recent idea was brought to the Big Idea Hunt by Nicole Snedden, who was at the time a 5th grade teacher at Minnetonka’s Clear Springs Elementary School. She had been exploring the impact of the learning environment for her students and came upon The Third Teacher book. She submitted a Big Idea with the aim of empowering purposeful change in learning environments throughout the district.

The initiative was dubbed Design for Learning and ultimately took off as another Minnetonka Big Idea. Nicole, along with Eric Schneider, the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, gathered a team of educators from across the district to champion the charge for transformation. There is a ground swell of excitement for the initiative and the team sought guidance in navigating the path forward. How could that excitement be best channeled to generate positive and purposeful impact for students across the district?

Nicole and Eric brought The Third Teacher+ team, in association with David Jakes Designs, to the district for an intensive two-day workshop to tackle this question. At the workshop’s heart was a full day session with the Design for Learning team exploring the design process and implementation inspiration.

We experienced the design process to weave together Design for Learning with the district’s recently developed Teaching and Learning Framework. We utilized that Framework as a foundational structure aligning localized action with broader learning objectives. And we came up with ideas both reasonable and silly: how about a way to declutter spaces, District Dump Day- $1 per pound!

The Third Teacher team further developed an Implementation Guidebook that details the unique adaptation of the design process developed in the workshop. The I3E Guide– Initiate, Ideate, Implement, and Evaluate– discusses questions and activities to build a bridge between the Teaching and Learning Framework and the Design for Learning implementations that will occur across the district.

So what's around the bend at Minnetonka? The Design for Learning team is moving with incredible enthusiasm and it won't be long before transformation takes root!

Here are the resources that support our engagement with the administrators of the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Houston, Texas. The presentation, given three times, focuses on the process of learning design and the creation of student learning experiences.

It is easy to visualize a school corridor, lined with lockers and doors on opposite sides of the hallway that lead to the classrooms that have served learning so well and for so many years. It's also easy to visualize the school cafeteria, the library, and the common spaces where students congregate. After all, it's school and the representation of that is etched on the minds of everyone that has ever attended school.

So, when is it time to do something different with the spaces of school and how they serve learning? Are schools approaching a "tipping point" where their is a growing realization that their spaces, classrooms and otherwise, are rapidly losing their relevancy and are no longer capable of supporting a contemporary education?

Rethinking spaces means focusing on the student experience that the school wishes for its students. It does not mean focusing first on furniture, on technology, lighting, or some other "thing." Rethinking spaces is about experience first, and things second. As it should be.

It is also about understanding that schools can no longer be an isolated entity and their own islands of learning. Learning in 2015 is a connected endeavor represented by an ecology of learning opportunities, some that take place in formal institutions like school, but also some that are designed by learners themselves, and that are outside of the physical boundaries of school in spaces of the learner's choosing. Learning spaces today must be visualized in a 24-7 context, and not simply in a 8 AM to 3:30 PM container.

There are many compelling opportunities for learning that are emerging, including blended and online learning, as well as the always-on Internet, with its availability of on-demand learning experiences, supported by creative and innovative ways that connect people, ideas, and resources together.

These are all catalysts, and they relentlessly push on the traditional boundaries of education toward a tipping point that can, and hopefully, will lead to action. That's a good thing. That push should include a focus on the spaces where learning occurs and create a sense of urgency for creating new types of spaces and experiences.

Simply stated, a contemporary education means placing learners at the center of a connected world. That requires new thinking about the dimensions of learning and how learners leverage formal experiences in school, as well as serve as their own agents of learning. And that process can begin by rethinking learning spaces, both physical and digital, and how the two spaces interact to create a more expansive condition for learning.

The Third Teacher+ had a great opportunity to work with over 50 educators from western New York during a full-day workshop on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and design. The goal of the day was to introduce the process of design and how the design process could be used in STEM program development, as well as how design could serve as a pedagogical foundation for learning based in a STEM approach.

We began the day with a presentation that explored an expedition of learning based in innovation and design. Using the theme of "a STEM expedition," participants had an opportunity to immerse themselves in the design process by creating a talisman for their workshop partner. Other design opportunities during the day reinforced the elements and the process of design and how it could support a STEM student learning experience. An additional highlight of the day was engaging with Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) through a Google Hangout. Chris discussed a variety of topics including the development and operation of SLA, innovation, leadership and creating a school culture capable of supporting educational change and continual growth.

Major takeaways for the day:

Design around experience, not things. In this case, design around the student STEM student learning experience.

There is a specific language of design, composed of words such as empathy, ideation, prototyping, and iteration.

The design process is grounded in a human-centered approach that seeks first to understand the implications and breadth of an issue or problem. This is done through a process with a foundation in empathy.

The design process, although a process, can provide rich opportunities developing creativity and fueling innovation.

The design process encourages the development of complex cognitive skills, including listening, synthesizing (pattern-seeking), interdependent thinking, ideation, and communication.

The design of learning is based in identifying and designing for the development of content understanding, skills, and habits of the mind, while considering the resources, people, and environment that support that development.

Design is a process that could be used as a pedagogical approach in a STEM program.

Developing a design mindset means approaching problems and opportunities with a design mentality. This leads to the development of a design disposition.

Design has the potential to re-introduce creativity and wonder into learning.

Developing STEM and design learning opportunities are not mutually-exclusive of preparing students for standardized tests and standards-based curriculum. Use the design process to address the development of a STEM program capable of preparing students for multiple expectations and opportunities.

We're excited to see the how the Educating STEM series progresses and how future speakers add depth, experiences, and knowledge to the participants' understanding of STEM experiences. We're also excited to be working with our Grand Island team on the final session of the experience, focused on spaces, STEM in New York, and making STEM a reality for students.

We're excited to be kicking off the Educating STEM series at the Southern Tier West BOCES Center in Salamanca NY on December 17. We'll be introducing educators interested in STEM to the design process, which will provide a framework for "providing a focus on the pedagogical understandings for STEM education that bring context to integrated context." Our focus will be to explore the expedition of STEM, and how innovation, creativity, curiosity and wonder can be the essential elements that form the foundation of an integrated approach to education. Joining the session through a videoconference will be Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, who will provide additional context for STEM through an interactive discussion with the participants. Other speakers in the series include Sylvia Martinez who will be discussing invention and Larry Rosenstock, who will present on inquiry. Kim Navarroli and Paul Murawski from our Grand Island office complete the series by engaging the participants in a presentation about STEM in New York.

This month marks the start of The Big Draw (#bigdraw), a month long drawing festival that engages people of all ages in informal art making to demonstrate the power of drawing to help people see, think, invent and take action. This series was started by The Campaign for Drawing, a UK-based organization, and has now spread across the world. We are lucky to have a vibrant hub locally through The Big Draw Chicago, which has programming across the city at a variety of venues and institutions.

To celebrate, we are attending events and talking with colleagues about the role of drawing in their design practice. Below find an interview with Matt McGrane, a young architect in our firm who runs our summer sketch sessions and is a leader within Open Hand Studio .

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF HAND-DRAWING IN YOUR DESIGN PROCESS?

I sketch to establish relationships. It is much easier to understand and test proportion and composition of elements quickly by hand. Architects use scale drawing to measure. Repeated sketching allows an architect to hone an inherent understanding of how things relate before translating those relationships to the computer.

BESIDES ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING, WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DRAW?

I love to draw the places around me, especially when I travel. By sitting down for a half hour in a space and sketching, I am able to not only capture what a space looks like, but whenever I look back at my sketches, I remember how it felt to be there. This is something that gets missed when snapping a photo with your cell phone. The investment in time to draw is also an investment in the memory of the place.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE DRAWING TOOLS (OLD AND NEW, DIGITAL AND ANALOG)?

I am a sucker for a good old Moleskine notebook and pen. I am also a big fan of watercolor pencil. Recently I got a smartphone with a sketching app and stylus. Although my skills are currently quite crude, I see a lot of potential in digital sketching. I look forward to putting it to practice for my design work when I am inspired by what I see while I am out and about in the city.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL DRAWING IN DESIGN – HOW HAS IT EVOLVED (IN GOOD OR BAD WAYS) IN A WORLD OF NEW TECHNOLOGY?

Physical drawing ultimately is a storytelling tool. Regularly as I would sketch while on my honeymoon in Italy, children or other tourists would sit beside me and watch over my shoulder as I drew. In that moment, there was a connection made between people over a shared experience that transcended conventional language. It works the same way in architectural practice.

For architects, often times we feel pressure to try and resolve everything before taking it to the client for feedback. Just as often, the client feels as though they have missed out on something, or that the 'finished product' lacks some of the quintessential messiness and energy that makes design exciting. If you have the ability to communicate through sketching, especially when interacting live with your clients, they feel as though they are an active participant in the creative process, not just the passive recipient of a finished design. Sketching builds trust and establishes expertise, both of which strengthen the relationship between architects and the clients we serve.

Summer is coming to a close and school is opening; excitement is in the air. What comes with new back packs, blank notebooks, and fresh excitement of the year to come?

Field trips.

Big ones, little ones. Planned or serendipitous. Guided or unchaperoned. We love to get out of our desks and into the world to explore new contexts and ideas in action. (We love our studio, but when the sun peeks through the windows we need to get outside too!)

We make excuses to go on field trips because what we take from "the field" is immeasurably valuable to us as people and designers alike. It's so important that it grounds each of our projects. We go in the field during the discovery phase to live with our schools during an "insight week" and on "inspiration trips" to places and spaces we admire. Occasionally, we will reserve time to debrief or get "heads down" work done at the museum, cafe, or new co-working space. We find that these immersive journeys illuminate more insights than desk research alone... they are energizing and inspiring for every one.

Field work is crucial for the "discovery" phase on any project, but good discovery never ends. It is both planned for and stumbled upon every day.

Strange as it may seem, we think field trips are more of a mindset and lifestyle than anything else. A mindset central to learning and design. When we go on field trips, we become students of the world––our awareness is heightened, our inspiration is fueled, and our understanding is deepened. Life is a series of really awesome field trips.

A few simple tips we like to take on the road:

Immerse + Observe: Be present. Notice the world around you with all your senses and mind. How is this setting different or similar to your everyday context?

Ask + Absorb: Ponder. Interact with people who use or work in the place you are visiting. Ask them the "whys, whats, wheres" on your mind. What's their favorite place and why? Where can you go to see the spirit of the place? Who are its users and what are their daily activities and reflections?

Capture + Save: Gather. Use tools that are easy and unobtrusive for you to capture what you notice and think. Try taking an ethnographer's approach, separating objective observation from personal reflection. Bring your favorite notebook, a camera, a small bag to collect artifacts and information.

Debrief + Reflect: Discuss. What did you notice? What did others notice? Reflect on your observations, surprises, and patterns that arose from your time in the field. Deepen your experience by creating time to debrief by yourself and in the company of others.

Relate + Share: Relate your experiences to your context and to the world around you. Discuss them with friends who may not have been on the journey with you and invite their reflections. Or share your observations & musings digitally in a blog or through images.

All month and over the year, you will see us post what we have learned from various "field trips." We welcome you to share your own with us as we explore the intersection of learning, design, and place.

What field trips are you excited for this year? Will you take up the TTT+ field trip challenge? Share your field trips on your blog, use our hashtag (#TTTfieldtrip) on Twitter / Instagram, or email them to contact@thethirdteacherplus.com.

Emi & Melanie en route to do field work in San Francisco with trusty notebooks, inspiration, and snacks.

Green shelves act as a project base camp filled with supplies and math manipulatives to support critical thinking.

Some of my favorite feature's in Mr. Mattice's remade classroom couldn't be captured in our video clips, but they are worth the mention. Why? These small meaningful design gestures added up to a classroom that not only functioned more effectively, but helped celebrate a positive class culture and Steve's personality as an educator.

Manifesto revamp:

One of our favorite artifacts to capture in a classroom usually is not too far from the front door – a class manifesto, declaration, or constitution. They go by many names, but these co-created covenants share one thing in common –– their importance in cultivating a positive class culture from the first day of school. Steve's classes created their own version centered on respect–each class with a different color marker. In branding the classroom and cleaning up the posters, we paid special attention to transform their manifesto into a poster that could hang proudly in any classroom. This year, we will do the second version of the “Respect” poster, this time with new voices from students.

Story wall:

One of our big challenges was to reduce visual clutter along classroom walls and to highlight only valuable education resources, meaningful messages, and evidence of learning. Needless to say, many handfuls of faded publisher posters were lost in the transformation. In addition to making new and more legible math reference posters, we wanted to share Steve's passion as a world explorer, dedicated coach, and talented photographer. While getting to know Steve, we discovered his incredible photography collection. To inspire students and facilitate worldly conversations, we created a simple and powerful ribbon of images and provocative verbs to give his classroom punch and character.

SOLVE wall:

Schools are increasingly integrating collaborative critical thinking in the classroom. Acronyms have emerged to help ingrain these mindsets in students. For Steve's class, it was SOLVE. We tossed aside the original photocopies and created an installation in the beat up acoustic tiles using pencils. After a few calculations, we sawed through thousands of pencils, lit up a projector, and traced 3-foot tall letters. (This is the only time we've had teacher permission to throw #2's at the wall.) The result? A playful reminder of their problem solving process and a work in progress for students to complete.

Project base camp:

Taking the doors off cabinets was simple, free and transformative. It not only prompted Steve to really evaluate his "stuff," but also created opportunities for color and student engagement. The new bright green shelving acted as a math project based camp: team collaboration supply boxes, math manipulatives, and all you'd need to create great visual presentations.

Backpack parking lot:

36 students means 36 backpacks. This simple equation was revealing. One of the biggest barriers to successful collaboration was student clutter and congestion. As such, we took some newly emptied cabinets and made a backpack "parking lot" to drop your excess material on project days.

Shoe stop:

Sometimes the silliest interventions hold a special place in our heart. We took Steve's comedic approach to borrowing a pencil (hand over your shoe), and created a tiny trophy shelf out of a shallow cabinet for the forgetful student's sneaker collateral.

It's sometimes the little delightful design interventions that add up to thoughtful transformation. What small "hacks" have you done in your classroom environment to ease your everyday or create a positive environment? Starting small is the first step to change!

There's always a story behind the story. And for us, filming Remake Your Class with friends at Edutopia was not only a memorable journey of design, learning, and tight-budget building, but also an adventure in film foibles, food, and new friendships. As you can imagine, 14-minutes for one week of filming means that much was unsaid about the process and design, not to mention the colorful camaraderie behind the scenes. I thought I’d share a few of our favorite memories:

Culinary tour of The Richmond in SF

One week of filming meant our crew shared 20+ meals with each other and within a mile radius of Roosevelt Middle School in the culinarily and ethnically diverse Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. Not only did we eat everything from Burmese to New American to Indian buffets, but we grew in conversation and connection over tables and takeout. Learn more about the Richmond here.

Goofing around with the crew

Here’s to boom mics in back seats. There are few things sillier than packing your new friend and tall sound guy into the trunk for an afternoon supply run. Or trying to coordinate casual drive by shots as you solve a budget fiasco. Or being chased by paint-covered hands of middle school students. Edutopia's film crew was not only talented and professional, but hilarious, easy going, and willing to do anything to get the shot–especially on the road. (High fives film team: Zac, Mario, Tom and producers: Lora and Doug!)

Hanging with the cool kids

Steve's students and the rest of the student body at Roosevelt Middle School were some of the most sweet, insightful, and fun kids to spend the week with. From Christian and David's foray into blacktop soccer, epically viral games of WA (Emi’s favorite team warm up), sharing lunch tables and school snacks, post-it filled workshops–– we couldn't get enough of these 7th and 8th graders. During our reflection at the end of our workshop, one girl spoke up and reflected, "it was one of the bestest days I've had" to a chorus of nodding heads. We melted. Definitely one of our best too.

Colorful pants

In the signature style of Christian Long and David Bill, every day was filled with a different pair of colorful pants. (See Bonobos) On the last day, with no coordination – Christian, David, a student, and I all wore magenta slacks. Now how's that for colorful coincidence? Teamwork!

Mustaches mobs

We came during a fun time in the Mattice classroom–– Movember: a month long mustache growing marathon and men's health awareness campaign. That meant lot of kids with mini mustaches and a great way to see Steve's playful and community-oriented teaching in action.

School slumber party

Well, nearly. We clocked some crazy hours over the week, but nothing was like the final weekend. Our generous principal, Michael, let us stay past midnight and arrive by 7:00 am consistently. There is something that feels rebellious running through school halls at night. You never grow out of it.

Behind the scenes of Remake your Class was a story of design and transformation, but also silliness, problem solving, and friendship. We hope you can catch a glimpse of that spirit in the film clips.

If you joined us for a meeting in The Third Teacher Plus Studio, you’d be amazed by the imaginative possibilities and direction that arise from the intersection of conversation and ideas.

You’d also be surprised by another thing.

The sketchbooks.

Designers like to put pen to paper. There is a certain amount of freedom in that, to be able to let ideas flow out onto to paper in a free form way that is adaptive and intuitive. Sketching is also a powerful way to draw visual connections between ideas and concepts.

All of us have sketched something. You’ve probably done this at some point by sketching on the back of a napkin when you had just the greatest idea ever.

It’s how you “draw talk.”

Here’s an example from team member Emi Day, with some Post It Notes added in for good measure:

Sketching is a great way to build and link ideas to conceptualize a direction or represent understanding.

Our challenge to you. Think about a sketchbook as a great addition to your classroom to encourage students to intentionally visualize their understanding. Imagine having kids draw a lecture or even draw an assessment - what would that look like? Also, how might the use of a sketchbook, easily transportable and usable (no need to find an electrical socket!), be a location for your ideas and brainstorms that could be represented visually, and serve to grow your practice?

Here’s how Michael describes RoyoBlocks: “RoyoBlocks is a tangible literacy toy that uses RFID technology to allow young children to engage with text in a meaningful way. The kit consists of 60 wooden word blocks that each feature a high-frequency sight word, and a plush reading companion that houses the arduino-powered RFID reader and speaker.”

One word. Amazing.

See pictures of Royoblocks and watch how it works in the video below, and observe how Michael used design to create a really compelling literacy tool for young kids.

Upshot: use a design mind and eye to collide idea and idea, object and idea, or object and object. Create something new.

Our challenge to you: What two things in your classroom or in your school could you put together in a completely new way? How could thinking like a designer change the way in which you view the raw materials of learning and how you connect and remix them to design compelling learning experiences for students? You can get started by learning more about the how to do that with the process of design thinking.

Michael is involved in some really cool projects, so you’ll be able to learn more about Michael and his work in this space in upcoming posts!

The Third Teacher+ studio is excited to welcome David Jakes to the team. Starting in July, he’ll serve as a Digital Strategist and Designer for TTT+ and help develop new projects within Cannon Design's K-12 practice in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.

David has spent the last three decades in education as a teacher, technologist, storyteller, and designer. Most recently, he has overseen all technology and library services as the Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Information Services at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, IL, 20 miles northwest of Chicago.

David is recognized as a thought leader in the educational technology field on a variety of topics, including digital storytelling, cloud-based learning environments and their relationship to physical learning spaces, mobile learning, professional development, and the use and impact of social media in education. He currently maintains an extensive set of web resources dedicated to improving the use of technology in education: a web site (Jakesonline.org), a blog (DavidJakes.me), and a variety of other resources (David Jakes Presentation Resources). David is also a frequent speaker at national and international educational technology conferences.

He received his bachelors in fisheries management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and a masters in the same discipline from the University of Georgia. He then worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a river biologist before spending 15 years as a HS biology teacher and another 12 focused on instructional technology.

When asked to share why he wanted to join an educational design studio, David said:

"For me, design provides a landscape for innovation, a way to think and rethink what education is and can be, while focusing deeply on the needs of students and their learning."

Last week, Cannon Design Chicago hosted its second monthly cultural impact event called Pulse. Along with a presentation of evidence-based designs that enhance creativity and a game of Pictionary to challenge our colleagues to communicate concepts visually, there was a short video contest to get a glimpse into the lives of Cannon Designers.

Some of my favorite pieces at VS

Earlier that month, our education team had been invited to the VS Furniture showroom to learn more about the ergonomics, quality of construction, materials, and configurations of their furniture lines. VS needed to clear out their space for the annual NeoCon event, so we enthusiastically offered to babysit one of their couches. The following prize-winning clip is our mini-adventure of transporting a four piece round couch from Merchandise Mart into our Cannon office. Enjoy!

Figuring out the interlocking mechanisms built inside the couch.

We're now using it as a mini-studio to immerse ourselves within a project vortex!

Recently, I stumbled upon the work of photographer Gabriele Galimberti. While on an 18-month globetrotting photo journey, Galimberti captured a particular look at childhood and material culture in "Toy Stories." From Botswana to Boulder, this series showcases children starkly posing with their most prized toy possessions. These artifacts of childhood differ in quality and quantity, condition and type –– revealing unspoken cultural patterns of play, parenting, and society through still lifes. This photographic study is reminiscent of other global collections of environments and artifacts such as James Mollison's Where Children Sleep (article), Peter Menzel'sWhat the World Eats and Material World, and Julian Germain's Classroom Portraits.

Pouring through these pictures reminded me of the role artifacts play in our design work with learning communities. In a discovery phase with a new client, we use a variety of methodologies to get to know and understand their world. We complement an investigation of voice, behavior, and interaction with documentation of materials and environments. Below are a few ways we use artifacts to uncover new communities.

Gabriele Galimberti, Toy Stories

Gabriele Galimberti, Toy Stories

Observing artifacts

When we conduct observations of client learning communities, we are always looking for artifacts. We notice and catalogue evidence of learning, values, culture, and community shown through the items that pepper hallways, offices, and classrooms. What do the signs placed around the classroom door communicate about core values? What stays the same between classrooms; what differs? What do rugs and bead bars illuminate about Montessori education? We read into this tangible evidence of identity to understand who our clients are, how they work, and what they value.

If somebody walked into your home or workplace, what would the artifacts in your space communicate?

Creatingartifacts

Just as we can observe items that already exist, much can be learned from the act of representation. In workshops, we often ask students/communities to make an object that symbolizes a facet of their culture, an aspect of their identity, or a reflection on their own learning. Simple prototypes of play dough or pipe cleaners, these creative artifacts and the stories behind them provide invaluable insight into a community.

If you had to represent something seemingly intangible*, what would you create to communicate its spirit?

Sharing artifacts

We believe you never grow out of "show and tell." This simple exercise of sharing stories about meaningful objects is both revealing and reflective––reflective for the sharer and revealing for the listener. We often use show and tell as a simple way to break the ice at design workshops and salon dinners. This disarming exercise prompts guests to reflect before the event and jumpstarts relationships at the gathering.

What is something you shared at "show and tell" as a child?

What would you share now at a dinner party or team meeting to reveal insight into your values or worldview?

Curating artifacts

Another way in which we can communicate a spirit of a culture or the life of a place is through the collecting and curating of artifacts into a still life. We also use these tapestries of objects to illuminate our studio life, assembling artifacts to convey our mindset or approach. Like peeking into chef's mise en place or a doctor's medicine bag, our tools communicate the "how" of what we do. On an impromptu and less-curated scale, you might peek into the backpack or desk of a student reveal a casual snapshot of his or her practical life. See Things Organized Neatly or The Verge's "What's in your bag?"

Peek into your backpack or briefcase, what would your impromptu work still life look like?

Reflect on a current project you are working on, how would you curate a still life to communicate your process?

Take a moment to think about the artifacts of your life, work, or school. If an archeologist was going to reconstruct an understanding of your community through your material culture, what would it communicate?

Observe: Montessori materials and values displayed in a classroom

Create: team spirit and representations of Montessori education with pipe cleaners and pom poms

Share: Zach Klein of DIY.org shares an old boyscout jacket and badges at our San Francisco salon. A teacher describes the familiar feeling of having multiple minds with a three-headed dragon.

Curate: A glimpse into some tools for "hacking class" from colleague, Emi Day.

If you try any of the above prompts, feel free to share your reflections in the comment section or email Melanie at mkahl@cannondesign.com.

Boyd
defines 21st century learning as making sense of the networks of public
life. She points out that the most valuable thing gained from America’s
top higher ed institutions isn’t the degree or the knowledge, but the
relationships and networks students have made in their time there. She
argues that building lifelong learners means “helping people recognize
how important it is that they continuously surround themselves by people
that they can learn from...[and] connect to new people on a regular
basis.” She fears that social media makes it too easy for young people
to sequester themselves into a narrow focus of like-minded people.

While
I agree with this goal, I would argue that surrounding oneself with
like-minded people is an important part of development that shouldn’t be
cut out. Solidifying one’s own identity requires finding role models
and others who reflect your values so you can live them and engage in
them. As educators, we can help young people take their smaller circle
for identity negotiation and widen it to open the way for brave, new
intellectual pursuits. The question is how can we do this best?

How
can we facilitate the building of social networks? How do we support
natural relationship building and encourage the expansion of this
comfort zone? How do we reward and document this form of
growth and development?

As
Boyd discusses the value of a public stage to experiment with self
expression, she makes a really interesting distinction that “just
because teenagers want to be IN public does not mean that they want to
BE public.” They therefore have figured out how to negotiate a privacy
within the public realm. This is possible because we no longer define
privacy as the control of information. Information is free flowing.
Shared knowledge is more valuable than competing in a zero-sum
intellectual property game. Instead, privacy is gained by controlling
the boundaries of who participates in your ideas and who understands
your ideas. Teens use "’social steganography,’ which happens when teens
choose to post something very publicly knowing the meaning is completely
lost on anyone who is not in-the-know.”

What
do public and community gathering spaces look like with this definition
of public and private? How can teens to be in public and yet create
boundaries of meaning? What does “social steganography” look like in
physical form? Or is a combination of physical space and digital
communication?

Take a walk through one of our workshops! Here's the presentation/workshop I gave for Northwestern's Global Engagement Summit's GES Day. I've integrated the artifacts and insights from the session too.

This written talk by Danah Boyd caught my eye and is worth a break from How Children Succeed.
Her talk forecasts the nature of future organizations based on trends
in start up culture and teen media use. She argues that today is about
the development of the individual through their social networks.
Organizations are a means of implementing and realizing, but they are
not the primary focus. I love her productive cross-generational
comparison. I’ll reflect on the teen learning topics of her talk here
and will save start up reflections for a separate organizational strategy
discussion. Boyd explores how social media demonstrates three aspects
of teen development: identity experimentation, navigating public/private
boundaries and building relationships and networks.

Identity Experimentation

A feedback book at a public library is filled with more expressions of personal identity than comments on the library.

Boyd makes a similar argument as Sherry Turkle in Alone Together:
teen years are crowded with responsibilities and expectations that give
them little opportunity to experiment with who they are and who they
want to be. Social media serves as an interstitial realm that they can
control: “it becomes a training ground for independence, creativity, and
personal self-expression.”

How
can we support this experimentation in learning environments? How can
we connect them to the social media realm for safe experimentation? And
help them carry the fruits of that experimentation into the physical
realm? How can we create a physical realm that similarly supports experimentation?

Recently, I’ve been concerned about the “skills
gap,” a term describing the situation where employers complain that graduating
students don’t have the skills to qualify for available jobs, while educators
still believe their students are ready.
Having just made the leap from
7 years of higher education to entry-level employment, I feel that this is a
ripe opportunity to reflect on this transition.

My main objective here is to reframe the question of why
graduates lack skills for available jobs, and ask instead why graduates are not
emotionally ready for employment.

I’d like to tackle the idea that once you graduate,
you’re done. You’re set, you
believe you’ve acquired enough knowledge and know-how to start changing lives
and taking names. Let’s look at that a bit more closely.

How can we support students to run with
their ideas into the real world? How can we change the metaphor of schools from
employee factories (economy-centered) to leadership academies
(student-centered)?

2. Different
people take varying amounts of time to realize who they are and what they want
to do. When you graduate, it does not
show how self-aware a person is. For some people, looking for a job is the
first time they’ve had to test their values against an organizations’. It’s
the first time that they realize we must each find a unique way to serve
society; ideally, create their own position or niche.

How can we create more time for focused reflection during school so
that when training is over, young people know how to use their own internal
compass?

3. Graduation
is the end of formal institutional training, but learning is never over.
Becoming educated must mean to learn how you, yourself learn; how you, yourself
are motivated; how you, yourself, are inspired. Learning is simply a nimble
mind. It’s open enough to accept new/challenging information, but closed
enough to filter out spam. It’s capable
of making quick judgments but careful enough to reevaluate them later. It’s
recalling main ideas but applying and sharing them to relevant people and
situations going forward.

Over
the last year I’ve had great laughs about the Skills Gap- talking to my peers
about meaningless
degrees, collaborating with students to design
our own education , and participating on OpenIDEO’s
challenge to get young people employed. (Learn more about my
submission here.) Fundamentally, it’s not about a skills gap; (I was
trained as an architect/ergonomist and my first task was to design this
website) it’s about a mindset gap. We
need graduates who know themselves enough
to pursue a fitting opportunity, who are devoted
to learning when it gets weird, and who strive to work with people they admire.